Press Release – The PR Company
An attempt to break the Guinness World Record for the most sandcastles built in one hour will take place on Wellington’s Lyall Bay beach this Sunday.

Hundreds of people are expected to turn up for the challenge which is raising money for The Neonatal Trust.

An international guest, in town for The Hobbit premiere, is expected to host the event, which has been organised by Adventure Wellington.

Sir Richard Taylor and Weta Workshop have designed and created 100 special buckets which will be passed around on the day. Each sand castle has to be 2 ft tall with a 2 ft wide base, and have four turrets; they will be checked by a Guinness World Record adjudicator.

There are five Neonatal Trusts in New Zealand, based in Auckland, Waikato, Wellington, Canterbury and Otago. They support parents of premature babies flown from around the country to the five hospital neonatal intensive care units (NICU’s).

“The incidence of premature birth is growing all the time. In New Zealand around 6,000 babies a year have to go to a neonatal unit. The Trust’s role is to support the families through this time as they can end up spending weeks or even months away from home as their baby grows,” says Neonatal Trust CEO, Michael Meads.

“Our NICU’s are world class; in particular Wellington’s unit which treats babies born as early as 23 weeks from around the country.”

The current world record stands at 683 sandcastles set two months ago in Britain.

The aim this Sunday in Wellington is to build in excess of 1,000 official sandcastles.